My old house has some beatiful, though neglected, heart pine flooring. It has been waxed for all of its life, and I’d like to continue to do so. However, before I rewax and buff, I’d like to sand the floors for uniformity and to remove water stains, light dings and wear. I’ve called the Butcher Company who tell me that the ONLY way to get wax off of the floor is to sand it. My concern is that I’ll go through a ton of sandpaper since the wax gums it up. Any suggestions ?
Thanks,
Robert.
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Replies
It will take a tom of sandpaper, not only from the wax but also the resins in the wood naturally. My floor guys always charge more foe this heart pine than for maple or oak or birch flooring. one solution is to learn to sharpen and use a hand scraper to remove the surface first.
Excellence is its own reward!
Wow. Hand scraping, huh ? That would take a while. Any utility in softening the was first using a heat source, or is it better for the wax to be harder ?
Heating the wax will only burn it in deeper into the wood grain..
Excellence is its own reward!
Pine floors are always going to clog up your paper - regardless of whether or not they have been waxed. There is a lot of resin in pine.
Rather than sanding, first try using a dewaxer, sold at any professional floor refinishing supplier. It is sold by the gallon. You pour it onto the floor and run a buffer with a steel wool pad over it. It makes a mess so be sure to tape and paper the base boards and walls up to 24". Lots of splatter potential.
Allow the floor to dry, apply fresh wax coats and then buff.
If you do decide to sand, apply a sealer coat before you wax. Nothing looks as good as a wax floor but keep in mind that there is a maintainance component to wax floors. You will have to rewax periodicaly.
If you have furry pets, the wax will coat and mat their fur due to their body heat and laying around.
F.
Edit: The wax will soften as will the resins, due to the heat created by sanding When sanding, I do not waste time and $ by removing the wax first. Just get more paper. Lots. most places will buy back paper you don't use.
Piffin is right. Pine floors are more costly to sand than "dryer" oak floors, basically due to the cost of additional paper and the time required to change it.
F.
Edited 12/27/2003 1:42:42 PM ET by Frankie
Thanks for all advice - I did buy some 'Floor Stripper' from Ace that is specifically designed for wax removal - in fact, it's what the guy recommended. However, I was stupid enough (or smart enough - take your pick) to read the instructions, and it said on the bottle 'not for use on wood floors'. Hence my call to Butcher's Co. and post in this fine forum. Have you had experience with liquid agents on the floor - is it safe ?
I have used it with success, but like I stated earlier it was purchased from a wood flooring supply house. I do not take all the wax off. Just the build up. it takes a lot of it up and redistributes the rest.
I believe Duraseal makes it.
F.
The wax removers for vinyl floors are a strong alkalai. They can make wood floors turn very dark. The other kind of remover is basically just a petroleum solvent. Naptha or kerosene. Neither one will work well. The wax has already been pounded into the grain as deep as it can go. Just plan on sanding and using up a lot of sandpaper. The rubber sandpaper cleaners will help a lot. Rub it on the paper and it'll clean off a lot of the resin. The paper gets clogged with resin long before it gets dull.
We used to foot sand using steel wool on our waxed teak floor. Lots of work but the rewaxed floor was always beautiful.
If you sand a waxed pine floor, is there a possibility that the heat from sending just drives the wax deeper into the wood?
If that were my floor and there is heavy wax build up, I'll probably go with Piffin to use a sharp hand scraper. If you keep your scraper sharp and the area is manageable, it shouldn't take that long and the result would be beautiful.
You do have to watch the sanding discs or belt. It clogs quickly and once it does, it is just melting the wax in. Gotta start wityh rough grit.
Dings, gouges and scratches can make it necessary to sand but if you can tolerate minor stuff, just scraping and redoing is the way to go..
Excellence is its own reward!
>>Dings, gouges and scratches can make it necessary to sand but if you can tolerate minor stuff
That's the whole beauty of an old pine floor.
Mine is laid to be lived on, not for a TV show
;).
Excellence is its own reward!
Wax on Heart Pine Floors
Im a flooring contractor and im here to tell you the only way is sanding. Seems like alot of work and it is but theres a way to cut down on the amount of paper used. First of all you need to have a drum sander or some sort. Now when sanding old heart pine that has tons of wax on it, its ok to use really heavy duty paper. If you start out with a 16 grit it will remove 80 percent of the wax on the floors. Then go to 24 grit then 36 grit then 50 then 80. Seems like alot of paper but you will cut the amount of sandpaper in half. As for the edges use a 20 grit edger sandpaper and work up the same way. Between each grit on the drum run the edger. 20 grit 36 grit 50 grit and 80 grit. After completing all these steps you be ready to run a vibrating sander or a small orbital sander along all the walls and everywhere the drum sander couldnt reach to take out the scratches. After that you should be wax free and ready to coat floors after cleaning. Im working on a 1800 sqft antique heart pine floor now. Its got the most wax ive ever encountered on it and my steps are taking it off with no problem and im not using a whole lot of sandpaper. Of course youll always use more sandpaper when dealing with wax but with my steps you can cut that amount in half. Hope this helps.
Saint Patrick,
You realize the OP asked this question almost a decade ago. Your info is good but I would hate to see a rookie with 16 grit. I hate to see rookies with a drum sander anyway.
KK